Corker, Cooper lead same congressional delegation back to D.C.

The votes have been counted and Tennessee will return the same congressional delegation to Washington.

Incumbents from Memphis to Mountain City, Democrat Steve Cohen in Memphis to Republican Phil Roe in Johnson City will go back to the U.S. Capitol to represent their constituents in the same manner they have done for the last few years.

Before any votes were counted, Republicans held seven of the nine seats of the U.S. House and both seats in the U.S. Senate. In Nashville's 5th District, Democrat Jim Cooper easily defeated Brad Staats, also grabbing 65 percent of the vote.

The only office of the 10 contested where there a doubt was the 4th District race between incumbent Republican Scott DesJarlais and Democratic state Sen. Eric Stewart.

DesJarlais was battered in the final weeks of the election with the revelation that he had pressured a woman that he had a relationship a decade ago — while he was still married to his first wife — to have an abortion. DesJarlais countered that he used improper language in a conversation with the woman and that this attack was old news from his enemies on the other side of the aisle.

The only one who will be looking over his shoulder is DesJarlais, who while in a strongly Republican district is subject to the wandering eyes of other Republican office holders who see a weakness that could be contested in two years.

6 Comments on this post:

By:govskeptic on 11/7/12 at 6:22

Even with the massive amount of money that came in from Nancy Pelosi's pack, and
a million dollars worth of negative Press publicity Congressman DesJarlais still won
his race by 12% points. The best way to lose the district is for an opportunist within the party to attempt to be more conservative in a primary race in 2 yrs.

By:MusicCity615 on 11/7/12 at 8:24

Jim cooper is AWFUL.

By:BenDover on 11/7/12 at 9:54

I would much rather DesJarlais had lost and Staats had won.

By:yucchhii on 11/7/12 at 4:15

"ALL" politicians are "CRIMINLAS" This includes cooper and corker!! I's name all the others too, but the list is too long to include all from all the USA!! HEY HASLAM, SO WHAT WERE YOU AND EVERYBODY HIDING WHEN Y'ALL MADE THE LAW THAT KICKED ALL THE OCCUPY PROTESTORS OUT OF LEGISLATIVE PLAZA!! YOU HAD TO BE HIDING "SOMETHING", OTHERWISE WHY NOT JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE AS THEY WERE STANDING ON THEIR RIGHTS THAT YOU AND THE OTHER CORRUPT CRIMINLAS AT LEGISLATIVE PLAZA TOOK AWAY FROM THEM AND EVENTUALLY WILL TAKE FROM ALL CITIZENS OF TENNESSEE!!

By:Bellecat on 11/7/12 at 10:09

That the people of his district put DesJarlais back in office again is astounding. He is an immoral, unethical hypocrite. Knowing that, why would voters trust a person of his caliber to take care of the country's business? How far does a politician have to go for voters to realize that he has no moral compass? Does one have to be a felon, a murderer, a serial killer? Where is the line drawn?

The people we elect to public office should be worthy of our trust. With over 300 million people in this country, we do not have to choose less than honorable candidates. DesJarlais' predecessor seemed to be a decent and honorable man.
Can the voters truly say the same about him?

By:govskeptic on 11/8/12 at 9:43

Ben: You must be attached to the Republican Anarchy of the State to wish
that DesJarlais had lost, or the Clean earth Society. While I don't live
in the Fourth District, the real story is the lady was never pregnant,
and the last minute second supposed victim may or may not have
been nothing more than fictional. DesJarlais ran & has voted on
exactly the principals he stated he would. Suits me more than TV
time filing scandals repeated over and over. We know nothing about
the opponent other than a nice family photo